If I could travel back

to that moment

when I accepted that seductor’s invitation

and instead simply say,

“No thank you,”

saving me a world of hurt…

 

If I could go back

to that dinner in Africa

and not eat that amoeba

that stayed in my belly,

stealing my strength for decades…

 

If I could stop that car

from killing my sister,

or take my mother to the hospital sooner

so the doctor could fight

the pneumonia in time…

 

Would I?

 

Of course I can revise my past actions in any now,

but what if I could also change the outcomes?

 

Mind swoons with the notion:

Maybe life would be lighter, easier.

I would be steadier, healthier,

less plagued by stress and fear.

 

But then…

I may not have met the Friend.

 

Inside, I ask…what is the truth?

 

The answer comes in a shower of love:

All the past is crucial,

none of it important.

 

It is but an eye blink

in a lifetime of seeing.

 

It is a firefly’s flash

among all the stars in the Milky Way.

 

It is a dew drop

on an orchid petal in a rainforest.

 

So instead of time-traveling back,

I journey inward now,

where all disappears

into the golden hue of You.